Loudspeaker arrays may include an array of transducers for outputting sound. An audio receiver or other audio device may drive each transducer of the loudspeaker array with separate audio signals to apply a particular beam pattern to a sound content, to thereby play the sound content in a given direction with a given directivity. If the beam pattern used for audio playback has high directivity, the majority of the sound content will be produced by a small subset of the total drivers in the loudspeaker array. If a driver (e.g., a transducer) in the subset of drivers receives sound content that goes beyond an operational threshold level of the driver, limiting and/or compression is needed. This causes both a distortion of the audio and a reduction of the intended acoustic energy.